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Israel pushed Trump to send 14,000 troops to the Middle East, report claims

On December 6, 2019, The Canadian Jewish News published Israel pushed Trump to send 14,000 troops to the Middle East, report claims. The byline on the page is JTA, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The Canadian Jewish News is a Jewish newspaper in Canada. The item says the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel played a role in President Donald Trump's reported plans to send an additional 14,000 US troops to the Middle East to counter Iran. The same page says the Trump administration denied those reports on the record. An American family should care because this is an early public argument about whether Israel was asking for more American soldiers in the region because of Iran.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. The rating covers the Wall Street Journal report, republished by JTA and The Canadian Jewish News, that an increase of about 14,000 US troops in the Middle East to counter Iran "came in part at the behest of the Israeli government." The Journal relied on unnamed officials, and the Trump administration denied the reports on the record.

What the article says​

The page says Israel played a role in reported plans to send an additional 14,000 troops to the Middle East. It attributes that to the Wall Street Journal. It then says multiple reports, citing unnamed officials, say Trump was planning to deploy the troops to counter increased Iranian adventurism in the region. Adventurism, in this sentence, means Iranian military activity outside a full war. The next sentence is the denial: "On the record, the Trump administration has denied the reports."

The page's account of Israel's role is one sentence:

On Wednesday, the Journal reported that the increase came in part at the behest of the Israeli government.

The Canadian Jewish News, republishing JTA, December 6, 2019. "The Journal" is the Wall Street Journal, named earlier on the page. "At the behest of" means at the request of. The article adds that aides to the president reportedly also pushed for the increase. It does not name those aides. It does not quote an Israeli official. This page did not open the Wall Street Journal story it links.

The rest of the item is about a different troop move. It says top Israeli officials were unnerved in September when Trump pulled most American troops out of Syria, "effectively abandoning its Kurdish allies to the predations of Turkey and Syria." It ends by saying Trump has said he wants to pull more troops out of the region.

What other reporting and posts add​

Six months earlier, a bigger number. In May 2019, The New York Times reported that, at the request of national security adviser John Bolton, "Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan presented an updated military plan that envisions sending as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East should Iran attack American forces or accelerate work on nuclear weapons." @borzou quoting The New York Times, 14 May 2019. (capture: twitter/t48__v573.md) Former intelligence officer Malcolm Nance answered: "Any war with Iran would require 500,000 troops and the return to the draft." That is his estimate. @MalcolmNance, 14 May 2019. (capture: twitter/t48__v565.md)

The same suspicion, later, from inside the Pentagon. In October 2023, journalist Sharmine Narwani posted: "Pentagon source privately tells me there is a growing sentiment that Israel is manipulating the US into a war with Iran." One anonymous source, relayed by a journalist. @snarwani, 25 October 2023. (capture: twitter/t12__v138.md) In 2024, Israeli TV reported that American soldiers would operate a THAAD missile-defense battery inside Israel, and the Pentagon denied a decision had been made at the time. (capture: twitter/t13__v150.md)

The 2026 version of the same argument. A State Department legal opinion in 2026 said the United States entered the war with Iran "at the request of and in the collective self-defense of its Israeli ally," which Snopes rated True; Trump and Netanyahu denied that Israel dragged the United States in. See Trump rejects idea that Israel drew US into war. (capture: twitter/t13__v146.md)

What it shows​

Years before the 2026 war, a major American newspaper reported that the Israeli government helped push for thousands more American troops in the Middle East to confront Iran, and six months earlier a Pentagon plan envisioned "as many as 120,000 troops" if Iran attacked. The pattern is the same in 2026: American soldiers positioned against Iran, and an Israeli request behind the US role, which a State Department legal opinion later put in writing ("at the request of and in the collective self-defense of its Israeli ally"). The denial came on the record; the request came through officials. See A Long Pattern and Force-Planning Documents.

Check it yourself​

Why a 2019 story matters in 2026: the question on this investigation's shelf, whether Israel pushes for American soldiers in a fight with Iran, did not start with the war that began on 28 February 2026. In late 2019, after attacks on Gulf shipping and Saudi oil facilities that the United States blamed on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had helped push for more US troops in the region. The Canadian Jewish News is a Toronto-based Jewish newspaper; this item is a rewrite by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), a Jewish news wire.

Research captures: twitter/t48__v573.md, twitter/t48__v565.md, twitter/t12__v138.md, twitter/t13__v150.md, twitter/t13__v146.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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